27
Mar
translatetiny

Google Translate Adds 51 Offline Language Packs, Lets You Tear Down The Language Barrier Without A Network Connection

Posted by in Applications, News

Google Translate has always been one of the unsung heroes of the free service space. On the one hand, it doesn't provide a perfect translation, so people are still hesitant to call it a true breakthrough. On the other hand, we use it all the time to translate web pages enough to get the gist and, when combined with speech-to-text and text-to-speech, you can use the Android app as the closest thing to a universal translator in your pocket the world has ever seen. Now, it's getting even better with offline language packs.

Starting today, you can download any of the 51 language packs available and have always-on access to translation between any combination of the ones you've chosen.

07
Jan
ouyathumb

Ouya Announces CREATE, A 10-Day Game Development Competition With $45k In Prizes

Posted by in Games, News

Time to grab the closest energy drink, sit down at your biggest, baddest, multi-monitoriest coding rig and get cracking on some game ideas, devs! Ouya has announced a 10-day competition that will challenge contestants to come up with an Ouya-compatible app from scratch. The shindig gets started on January 14th and from that point, participants will have until January 23rd to submit a playable demo of their original game.

The contest is being put on in partnership with Kill Screen, which will be reviewing the entries. After the initial reviews, some entrants (not all) will even be played by a "team of industry pros" that includes Ed Fries (co-creator of the Xbox) and Felicia Day (no intro needed).

26
Nov
sprintlogothumb

Sprint Turns On Several LTE Networks In Virginia, Massachusetts, Indiana, And More

Posted by in News, Sprint

Those of you who are on Sprint and thus have no need for opinions on the Nexus 4's lack of a 4G radio will probably agree: more LTE coverage is more gooder. Well, the Now Network concurs and the carrier is opening up the airwaves in a few more cities and areas, including Anderson, Indiana; Harrisonburg, Virginia; and Peabody, Massachusetts.

Here's the full list of cities that launch today (with coverage expanding in these areas over the coming months):

  • Anderson, Ind.
  • Clarke County, Va./Jefferson County, W.Va.
  • Harrisburg/Carlisle/Hershey, Pa.
  • Hagerstown, Md./Martinsburg, W.Va.
  • Harrisonburg, Va.
  • Muncie, Ind.
  • Peabody, Mass.
  • Salina, Kan.
  • Shenandoah County, Va.

12
Sep
2012-09-12_19h43_45

Where Do They Get Those Wonderful Toys? Comparing The Newest iPhone To Android

Posted by in Editorials

Yes, we're an Android site. Yes, there was an Apple event today. We're gonna talk about it. As the newly-recast Rhodey said in Iron Man 2, "It's me. I'm here. Get used to it." Because the new iPhone raises a lot of questions: Didn't I see an Android phone with [some feature] before? Is the new iPhone really the thinnest smartphone around? Why in the world would apps need to be letterboxed? The answer to these questions and more lie within. What doesn't lie within is fanboy bickering. Let's keep it civil everyone.

It's The Size, Stupid

2012-09-12_19h09_16 2012-09-12_19h10_15

Easily, the biggest new feature for the iPhone 5 is the display size.

28
Jun
swiftkey3logo

SwiftKey 3 Is Now The Top Paid App In The Play Store, Company Is Unfazed By Google's Fancy New Keyboard

Posted by in Applications, News

Swiftkey 3 recently arrived on the Play Store, and not too long afterwards, the company has posted a statement on its blog letting us know that the app is currently the best-selling paid app on the Play Store. Not too bad, SwiftKey! Of course, the biggest challenge is ahead, as Google announced yesterday that, from Jelly Bean onwards, the default Android keyboard will attempt to predict your next word. Which smacks just a little of SwiftKey's pitch.

The company says it's not worried about it in the least:

It’s also good news for us. Google’s commitment supports the vision we had two years ago when we launched the world’s first keyboard that learns from you to predict your next word.

17
Jan
iphone-vs-android

Editorial: Steve Wozniak Isn't Afraid To Criticize iOS's Shortcomings, And We Shouldn't Be Afraid To Call Out Android's

Posted by in Android OS, Editorials

When I read the comments of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in an interview with The Daily Beast, my first thought was "this sounds like an eminently reasonable man making some well-reasoned points." Of course, being an Android site, we took interest in Wozniak's comments on Android's superior (in some respects) voice commands, as well as his praise of its workable built-in navigation solution (something iOS currently lacks outright).

I've used Siri. It's pretty fun (and funny) at times. But in my opinion, it doesn't do many things better than Android's voice commands (word recognition is, perhaps, a little better - though I've not compared it to Android 4.0's instant STT engine, which I've heard is a big improvement).

16
Jun
honeycomb-bee-android

Editorial: Android Tablets - Is It Just A Summer Fling, Or Are Manufacturers Here To Stay?

Posted by in Android OS, Editorials, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Tablets

I've been thinking about writing this editorial for some time now. And today, with the announcement of Panasonic's upcoming Toughbook Android tablet, I finally decided to go for it. The point this article is trying to make may not be abundantly clear in the title, so let me see if I can get it across as a question: Is it just me, or are there a suspiciously large number of companies in or planning to enter the Android tablet market?

It sounds like a silly question to ask. And to a degree, it's not exactly a hugely relevant question, either. Who really cares how many companies are trying to get into the tablet market?

15
Apr
GoogleMusic

Editorial: Google's Music Talks Aren't Going Well - Will Music Be Too Little, Too Late?

Posted by in Android OS, Apps/Games, Editorials, News

To answer the question, briefly: nobody really knows at this point. But I do think Google is going to have to make some sacrifices in the short term if the Music service is going to get off the ground. And that's because the record labels won't play ball - at least not by Google's rules according to All Things D, quoting two apparently well-connected sources.

Of course, the words of a couple anonymous music industry insiders aren't definitively representative of the feelings of all the (presumably numerous) parties involved in Google's Music negotiations. For all we know, those persons could be part of some of the industry's historically more stubborn labels.

06
Apr

Editorial: Motorola XOOM Sales Estimated At 100,000 So Far - Does It Really Matter?

Posted by in Android OS, Editorials, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, XOOM

 

No doubt you've seen at least one mention of the 100,000-XOOM sales figure somewhere on the web today - and for me, it has reached the point of mild annoyance. From this number, all sorts of wild extrapolations and theories are being tossed around about Motorola's future, Android's future, and the viability of tablets in an Apple-dominated market.

Boy Genius Report took a step back, and presented a level-headed but clearly pro-XOOM take on the news:

So, according to Deutsche Bank, Motorola has sold 100,000 XOOM tablets in less than a month and a half, which is an average of over 75,000 units per month.

02
Mar
tabletshakeup

Today's iPad 2 News Could Shake Up Tablet Prices - But Not For The Reasons You Think

Posted by in Android OS, Editorials, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

While we at Android Police don't exactly wait with bated breath to hear what Steve Jobs has to say at Apple announcements like the one for the iPad 2 today, we would be fooling ourselves to pretend that Apple products don't directly affect the market for Android devices. While an Android fan's first reaction to the latest iAnnouncement is often to (understandably) bash the smooth-talking fruit company from Cupertino, I believe that today's events could shake up the tablet market for the better.

The hardware of the iPad 2 is hardly a game-changer. They didn't upgrade their display from the first generation iPad (which always looked a little bit pixelated to me), though they did make it thinner and lighter.

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